UTECA: “OTT platforms avoid tax and production quotas”

UTECA, the Spanish private TV Association, has accused new OTT platforms – such as Netflix, Amazon and HBO – of avoiding taxes in Spain to the detriment of the traditional TV operators.

“It is unacceptable seeing how, through their foreign headquarters, they avoid the fiscal system and the obligation of financing RTVE or the national production [quotas]”, claimed the outgoing president of UTECA, Alejandro Echevarría, one of the founders of the Association who soon will leave his post after tow years at the helm.

“We (the TV market) are highly regulated and overseen. However, the new distributors, mostly multinationals, are operating in a legal jungle, with limited or no controls and obligations, and with little contribution to the domestic economy. It makes sense claiming that we all should operate under the same rules”, he said. He want the TV law changed to adapt the new TV scene to the new digital developments.